Hi allI went to see a new RE today who looked concerned when my eggs were left overnight in the dish with DHs sperm instead of about 15 minutes on my last cycle. He has also ordered a DNA fragmentation test (I have asked other drs for this and they are so lackadaisical! He said they would do ICSI if it didn't look like there was good motility on the day rather than leave them overnight as the debris in the semen could be potentially damaging on the embryo subsequently formed. Can anyone add their experience to this? Thanks

My RE did icsi on all mine, and I know alot of clinics do it this way now too... If this is a new RE maybe changing the way you did it the first way will get a better outcome We could only do ICSI since my DH had motility shape and count affecting things.

Hi Cookie, I have no experience with that but was curious and googled. What I found is that other clinics on their site state that the sperm and eggs are left together overnight so it doesn't seem to be uncommon

Why not just do ICIS and this won't be a problem? Like someone else mentioned, why go through all the trouble of ER and not give the best shot at fertilization. ICIS will give a higher chance of fertilization. Some clinics will do ICSI regardless of diagnosis. We did ICSI on all my cycles except for the first one and we didn't have male issues.

Sure I agree with you, but I am not having trouble fertilising. On the last cycle 10 out of 12 eggs fertilised and in the first cycle they all fertilised. What I was trying to find out is why the RE insisted that the eggs really shouldn't be left overnight unless there is a problem and from the sperm sample results he could see no problem. The RE gave me a story about "debris" affecting the egg.....which (being a cynic) I question. I question everything about IVF because when you ask REs for the evidence for their views, they have none...it is just "clinical experience". I think RE is just saying anything now because I am moving into my third cycle and they haven't worked to date. He is simply trying something new for the sake of trying something new. That's fine, but what they should say is "we really don't know the answers, but we can try this because it has worked on others." and stop acting like the so-called "experts" they claim. If I represented a client with such lack of evidence for my views I would be struck off!

I had a split cycle - half regular IVF, half ICSI. We didn't have a good result with the regular IVF, none of the eggs fertilized, probably because my husband's sperm morphology is not good. Next time we will do ICSI in all eggs.

I think sometimes the re's really have no clue.. they just say they will change this or change that just to make us think they know what is going on. Whatever it takes to get more money from us. I think a lot of iVF is just luck of the draw .

Thanks all for your contributions. One thing that is happening to me is I am kind of getting over it if you know what I mean....in fact if I hadn't told myself that I would do 4 cycles I might give it a miss....I have no faith in the doctors. But what an amazing group of women you all are.

Cookie- Keep your head up Every clinic is different, I know you eggs and sperm are fertilizing but ICSI doesnt hurt anything they just meet quicker and then only monitored for cells growth, I believe... Do you have anither RE you can get a 2nd opinion from?